Merry Christmas in 56 Languages: Greetings, Scripts and Dates

Christmas is one of the few days when a message to a friend abroad needs no reason. A greeting in their own language makes it personal, and it's an easy way to start talking again with someone you haven't written to in a while.

Below are 56 languages in native script, with romanization in brackets for non-Latin scripts. Each phrase was checked in two references (Wiktionary and Omniglot), and each date in Wikipedia. After the table you'll find the countries that celebrate on 6 or 7 January, the "happy holidays" forms, and what to say to someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas in 56 languages

Language	Merry Christmas	Note
Spanish	¡Feliz Navidad!	-
French	Joyeux Noël	-
German	Frohe Weihnachten	Also Fröhliche Weihnachten
Italian	Buon Natale	-
Portuguese	Feliz Natal	Portugal and Brazil
Dutch	Vrolijk kerstfeest	Also Prettige kerstdagen
Afrikaans	Geseënde Kersfees	-
Swedish	God jul	-
Norwegian	God jul	Also Gledelig jul
Danish	Glædelig jul	Also God jul
Finnish	Hyvää joulua	-
Icelandic	Gleðileg jól	-
Polish	Wesołych Świąt	Full form: Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia
Czech	Veselé Vánoce	-
Slovak	Veselé Vianoce	-
Hungarian	Boldog karácsonyt	Also Kellemes karácsonyi ünnepeket
Romanian	Crăciun fericit	-
Slovene	Vesel božič	-
Croatian	Sretan Božić	-
Serbian	Христос се роди (Hristos se rodi)	"Christ is born", 7 January
Lithuanian	Linksmų Kalėdų	-
Latvian	Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus	-
Estonian	Häid jõule	Also Rõõmsaid jõule
Greek	Καλά Χριστούγεννα (Kalá Christoúgenna)	-
Russian	С Рождеством (S Rozhdestvom)	7 January
Ukrainian	З Різдвом (Z Rizdvom)	25 December since 2023
Bulgarian	Весела Коледа (Vesela Koleda)	Also Честита Коледа
Georgian	შობას გილოცავთ (Shobas gilotsavt)	7 January
Armenian	Շնորհավոր Սուրբ Ծնունդ (Shnorhavor Surb Tsnund)	6 January
Catalan	Bon Nadal	-
Galician	Bo Nadal	-
Welsh	Nadolig llawen	-
Irish	Nollaig shona	Nollaig shona duit to one person
Scottish Gaelic	Nollaig chridheil	-
Maltese	Il-Milied it-tajjeb	-
Esperanto	Ĝojan Kristnaskon	-
Turkish	Mutlu Noeller	Also İyi Noeller
Arabic	عيد ميلاد مجيد (ʿĪd mīlād majīd)	-
Hebrew	חג מולד שמח (Chag molad sameach)	-
Persian	کریسمس مبارک (Kerismas mobarak)	-
Urdu	کرسمس مبارک (Krismas mubarak)	-
Hindi	शुभ क्रिसमस (Shubh Krismas)	Also क्रिसमस मुबारक
Bengali	শুভ বড়দিন (Shubho Boṛodin)	"Happy big day"
Mandarin Chinese	圣诞快乐 (Shèngdàn kuàilè)	Traditional script: 聖誕快樂
Japanese	メリークリスマス (Merī Kurisumasu)	-
Korean	메리 크리스마스 (Meri keuriseumaseu)	Also 즐거운 성탄절 (jeulgeoun seongtanjeol)
Vietnamese	Chúc mừng Giáng sinh	Also Giáng sinh vui vẻ
Thai	สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส (Suk san wan Khrit-mat)	-
Indonesian	Selamat Natal	Also Selamat Hari Natal
Malay	Selamat Hari Natal	-
Tagalog	Maligayang Pasko	-
Swahili	Krismasi njema	Also Heri ya Krismasi
Amharic	መልካም ገና (Melkam Genna)	7 January
Hawaiian	Mele Kalikimaka	-
Māori	Meri Kirihimete	-
Samoan	Manuia le Kerisimasi	-

Not every Christmas is on 25 December

Churches that kept the old Julian calendar celebrate later, so a message on the 25th can arrive almost two weeks early:

• 7 January: most Orthodox churches on the Julian calendar, including in Russia, Serbia and Georgia, and Christmas in Ethiopia, called Genna (Tahsas 29 in the Ethiopian calendar).
• 6 January: the Armenian Apostolic Church, which celebrates the birth and the Epiphany on the same day.
• 25 December in Ukraine: since 2023 it's the official date, after many years with 7 January.

If you're not sure which date a friend celebrates, ask. It's a good question, and the answer tells you when to send your message.

Happy holidays and season's greetings

Several languages have a broader "happy holidays" form that also covers the New Year:

• Italian: Buone feste
• Portuguese: Boas Festas
• Romanian: Sărbători fericite
• Spanish: Felices fiestas

In Polish, the everyday Wesołych Świąt already means "happy holidays". People add Bożego Narodzenia (of Christmas) when they want to be specific.

Christmas customs worth asking about

Asking how someone spends Christmas is a better follow-up than "how are you". A few traditions to start with:

• Japan: Christmas isn't a national holiday, and Christmas Eve is mostly a day for couples. The big family holiday is the New Year.
• Philippines: the season starts on 1 September, at the start of the "Ber months", and is often called the world's longest.
• Mexico: many children also get gifts on 6 January from the Three Wise Men.
• Poland: the Christmas Eve dinner, Wigilia, starts when the first star appears in the sky.

If they don't celebrate Christmas

Plenty of people you meet abroad won't celebrate Christmas, and that's fine. Send a New Year greeting instead, or one of the happy holidays forms above. Our list of Happy New Year in 42 languages has the greetings, plus the new years that don't fall on 1 January.

Sending it to someone in another country

Some tips for a greeting that leads to a conversation:

• Write it in their language first, then add a line in yours. A small mistake is fine; they'll enjoy correcting it.
• Ask one question: "What do you eat on Christmas Eve?" or "Do you open presents on the 24th or the 25th?" For more ideas, see how to start a conversation with someone from another country.
• Mind the date: for a friend who celebrates on 7 January, a message on the 6th or 7th shows you remembered.

If you don't have anyone abroad to send it to yet, try Olu. It matches you with a real person in another country for a text chat. Every message is translated both ways with the original visible, so your greeting in their language arrives as you wrote it, and you can read their reply even at a low level. Olu is for adults (18+).